Indian telecom industry grew 24 percent to top $24 bn: Survey

September 20th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Companies in the telecom and auto sectors have witnessed robust growth in turnover despite not increasing their advertisement budgets, according to the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocam), an industry lobby. In a study titled "Cost-Benefit Analysis of Advertisement Campaigns", Assocham said: "The amount spent on the marketing expenses in proportion to the sales has undergone a substantial decline in 2008-09." However, it added that Indian telecom and auto companies, "despite spending less on their advertisement and promotion campaigns, were able to increase their sales volume significantly".

August 18th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Hiring activity picked up in five metros, including Delhi and Mumbai, in July with employers from pharma, auto and IT sectors leading the recruitment drive, according to a survey. A three-month moving hiring average for sectors like real estate, semiconductors, banking, auto and IT showed that recruitment was up in these industries as compared to previous quarters, the hiring scenario survey by leading recruitment portal naukri.com said.

July 19th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Indian IT industry managed to limit the impact of global recession last fiscal and maintain the growth momentum, albeit lower than that in the boom times, says tech publisher Dataquest. "Export firms did better in recession-hit developed markets than those whose business is limited to the Indian market," Dataquest editor Prasanto K.

July 13th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Continuing its robust growth, the Indian telecom industry saw its gross revenues growing 2.6 percent to more than Rs.40,000 crore in the quarter ending March 31, said the sectoral watchdog here Monday. According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the gross revenue of the telecom sector for the period under review stood at Rs.40,444.66 crore, as against Rs.39,408 crore in the previous quarter.

July 2nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - The automotive industry in India grew at a computed annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.5 percent over the past five years, the Economic Survey 2008-09 tabled in parliament Thursday said. The industry has a strong multiplier effect on the economy due to its deep forward and backward linkages with several key segments of the economy, a finance ministry statement said.

July 2nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Economic Survey 2008-09 tabled in parliament Thursday has sought to end the controversy surrounding allocation of radio frequency by advocating an open and transparent auction process. "Spectrum should be auctioned and be freely tradeable among companies having a telecom licence, the survey said.

June 8th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Despite signs of an improving economy, India Inc feels actual recovery will happen only after September, a survey by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has found. According to the survey, conducted by the CII northern region, 96 percent of respondents believe a turnaround would happen only in the second half of 2009-10, thanks to the ongoing global slowdown The survey found 72 percent of respondents expecting the economic growth to be in the range of 5-7 percent this fiscal.

June 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - India's telecom equipment industry reported 20 percent growth in revenues at Rs.114,527 crore ($24 billion) in 2008-09, compared to 24 percent rise recorded the year before, an industry survey said Monday. The survey was conducted by Voice&Data, the flagship telecom magazine of Cybermedia.

June 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Indian telecom industry saw a dip in the number of new subscribers in April - 11.75 million telephone connections were added, compared to 15.87 million in March, an official statement said here Monday. The number of telephone connections reached 441.47 million in April from 429.72 million a month before, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said in a statement.

April 12th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Employment generation in India fell 49 percent during January-March this year, largely due to a slow growth of services industries like IT and banking, according to an industry lobby survey. 'The Assocham placement parameter (APP) Index (the body's index for measuring employment generation) has shown a steep fall of 49 percent and has came down to 509.72 from the base value of 1,000,' the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) said in a statement.

February 11th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Rural population is the key growth driver of India's telecom industry though 'affordability still remains a key issue', said a study released here Thursday. According to the study by LIRNEasia, and information and communication technology policy organisation, 27 percent of the total mobile owners at the bottom of the pyramid (BOP), or the poorest socio-economic group, were added last year, whereas the urban areas added only 19 percent.

February 4th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The booming Indian telecom industry that boasts of the world's second largest mobile network is more resilient than others in combating crises such as the current economic slowdown or natural disasters, says a technocrat who has been associated with the sector for over three decades. At the launch of his book 'Connecting India' Wednesday evening, S.D.

January 11th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Unitech Wireless, the telecom arm of real estate major Unitech Ltd., Monday said it has received 4.4 megahertz (MHz) of spectrum in the 1,800 MHz GSM band in the West Bengal telecom circle. With this, the company has been allotted initial spectrum in 21 service areas of India out of 22, a company statement said.

December 27th, 2008 NEW DELHI - Despite the global economic slowdown, some segments of India's services sector, including IT, education and organised retail, retained 'high' growth rate of 10-20 percent this fiscal, an industry lobby survey said here Sunday. The survey by the the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci ) said: 'Although the slowdown is expected to make a further dent in the growth of some segments of the sector, given its overall contribution of 63 percent to the GDP (gross domestic product), the services sector growth is expected to help maintain a healthy GDP growth this fiscal.' According to the survey, the number of wireless subscribers grew 50 percent in April-November compared to the same month last year.

December 23rd, 2008 NEW DELHI - Despite the global downturn slowing mergers and acquisitions (M&A), 20 such deals worth $9.15 billion took place in the country's telecom sector this fiscal, said an industry lobby study released Wednesday. The study on 'Mergers and Acquisitions in Telecom Sector' by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham), said the telecom sector had accounted for 33 percent of the total M&A deals this fiscal.